7 Pointless Traffic Generation Tactics You Should Stop Using Today

From jeffbullas.com, 7 pointless traffic generation tactics you should stop today


Traffic generation is no doubt an effective content marketing metric, however, SEO and traffic generation practices have evolved over the years, and with the evolution, more mistakes have become intertwined with effective tactics. Instead of giving up on your content marketing strategy, a more effective way to rectify the situation would be to determine what tactics are harming your website and how you can resolve those issues. With that said, here are seven traffic generation tactics you should avoid at all costs:


1. Stuffing content with keywords

Using irrelevant keywords or phrases or using an unnecessarily high volume of keywords are harmful SEO tactics. It can even lower your page ranking on Google or make the search engine mark your website as spam, along with losing credibility with your customers due to misleading information. It is important to always write high-quality content.

If you are unsure what keywords are right for your site, using platforms such as Quora or Reddit to figure out what discussions your customers are having about products or services related to your industry can help. Another tip is to make a list of questions your audience asks and include the answers in your content as keywords.


2. Building as many backlinks as possible

Link building is all about quality over quantity, and as such, it is important to take time to select which websites to have links to your site. Tools like Buzzsumo can help determine which websites have the top authority in your industry. The next step is to determine whether their content is relevant to your brand, once you’ve made a list of these sites, reach out to them about linking back to your content. You can also avoid backlinking mistakes by linking your content yo your social media platforms.


3. Focusing only on page rankings

Page ranking is no doubt an important factor in ensuring your website appears in top results. However, it is more important to focus on what will drive results for your brand like mobile-friendliness and your visitor’s perceived value of the website, which can actually improve your ranking amongst other things.

4. Writing low-value content

Content marketing has changed a lot in the past five years, quantity is no longer valued over quality, and as such, high-quality content that is valuable to your customers is key. Consider who is reading your blog, why they read it (to find answers to questions or learn more about your product?) and also remember to format content in a way that is easy to consume and that is also entertaining.


5. Duplicating content on different websites

Using syndicate websites to gain exposure for your brand and blog is good, and a common practice, but it can also drive traffic for that site instead of yours. And if you have several different outlets which you publish to, it can make it harder to track what is done to your content. Is it published correctly? Where there any unauthorized changes? The best way to overcome this obstacle is to make content exclusively for your site, promoting it on your social media platforms, and at the same time, creating content with the sole purpose of publishing them on select syndicate websites that will drive the most traffic back to you.


6. Including too many large files and complex coding on your website

How quickly your website loads is a huge factor when it comes to traffic- we’re in a technologically advanced age where everyone expects everything immediately. If your site does not fully load in two seconds flat, you’ve already lost a lot of your traffic. Fortunately you can use tools such as Google’s PageSpeed Insights to see your page speed time and identify solutions to improve page loading time. You should also assess the size of your images and files; compressing them can increase loading time and help you better capitalize on the traffic your site receives.


7. Driving traffic without a conversion strategy in place

This tip has more to do with capitalizing on the traffic your site gets than actually generating the traffic itself. You have to have an appropriate conversion strategy for your website depending on what your goal is. If it is capturing leads, then your conversion path might consist of an opt-in form and an incentive for completing it.

Traffic generation remains the top challenge for marketers but understanding the best and worst strategies will help you develop and implement an effective strategy for your brand.


See full post: 7 Pointless Traffic Generation Tactics You Should Stop Using Today